Thank you, truckers
To those who drove across this great, big country of ours in February, many bringing their families and cute dogs, I say an especially heart-felt thank you on this Canada Day. You have inspired millions around the world to speak up, and made me proud to be Canadian.
You woke us up and your courage rubbed off on many of us
I met many people in Ottawa during the protest (including many from the city of Ottawa) who said they’d never done anything like this before. They’d never protested. They were proud to be with the truckers, showing support. I, too, was proud to be there and proud of my fellow Canadians. Thank you!
Many, many people who could not make it to Ottawa made sure they sent money as a show of support. We’re sad you were unable to receive our financial support. And a big thanks to GiveSendGo for doing its best to help.
Why You Won
Many of us will never sit silent again. We’re with you.
The Freedom Convoy quickly raised $10 million - twice - from average people like me.
In response to the Liberal Prime Minister’s open disgust of and shocking treatment of the protesters, and to Chrystia Freeland’s pleasure in directing banks to freeze hundreds of protesters’ bank accounts, the Conservative Party membership skyrocketed to its highest level in history
We saw Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland for who they are
It’s OK to agree to disagree
There may be issues and causes I don’t totally agree with — this is true for any group of people. But free speech is the foundation of democracy. The government under Trudeau is not just chipping away at that, it’s taking a sledgehammer to our right to free speech.
In 2014, I wrote a book “Notes from a Blond” but I quickly unpublished it because I was too afraid. It wasn’t, as we now say, “woke”, and corporations (my clients) insist on true think and tell their employees how to speak (e.g., “It’s not downsizing, it’s rightsizing when we fire you”, etc.).
Well, dear truckers, if you can go to Ottawa and have your families and pets and bank accounts and livelihoods threatened, I can republish “Notes From a Blond” — which I will do here on Substack this summer.
With affection,
Maret Jaks
Let us never forget
The Canadian police brutalized the truckers and their families in Ottawa. They stood up for all of our rights and as a reward, the City of Ottawa threatened to send Children’s Aid after their kids and have the Humane Society take their dogs when the police came for them. A horrible lie swirled about, claiming that the Humane Society would kill their dogs. Just to add a little more fear into the mix.
And then Freedom Convoy organizer, Tamara Lich, was arrested for “mischief” and arrested just days ago again, in time for her to celebrate Canada Day in jail, far from friends and loved ones. Her message when she was first arrested and her message again: Be Peaceful.
Let’s also commemorate Daniel Bulford, a former RCMP officer and an eloquent one at that, learned there were charges against him in February and he turned himself in. (Note: I’m having trouble finding what the charges are against him.)
There were so many lies about the Freedom Convoy that it makes my head spin. Our Prime Minister openly insulted protesters by claiming we were racists, white supremacists, homophobes, transphobes, misogynists, and extremists. The many Sikh truckers at the protest and those supporting them from afar must have found that amusing.
The heavy-handed invocation of the Emergencies Act was founded on lies reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It claimed that huge amounts of foreign money and Russian actors were behind our citizens’ wish to have our Charter of Rights and Freedoms respected in this country. Once the protest was crushed, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation deleted the false claims of foreign money but not before hundreds of Justin Trudeau’s political opponents’ bank accounts were frozen.
Freezing citizens’ bank accounts in February, the coldest month of the year.
Beyond the Prime Minister’s slew of insults against those of us who protested in Ottawa, we learned that one of our federal ministers, Marco Mendicino, claimed that they invoked the Emergency Act because there were “potential rapists” in the trucks.
If the Emergency Act had to be invoked against the truckers because of “potential rapists” then why isn’t it invoked at the start of each university year? It was an outrageous claim that should have triggered an apology from the government and Mendicino’s resignation. But of course it didn’t. Our parliamentary democratic process is broken.